He Got Dead
by FuzzyBee013
Summary: Dick shows up at Wally and Artemis's with some bad news. Set between seasons 1 and 2


**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

**Takes place between seasons 1 and 2**

She was standing in the kitchen stirring the almost ready noodles. The steam was making her hair frizzy and her knees were aching from standing in the same spot. As she shifted her weight to the other foot she noticed a cracked tile and wondered for the hundredth time why they never got it fixed. It was stupid really. She noticed it every time that she cooked on the stove and it only got worse and worse. But, maybe that was due to the fact that she was too lazy to change it and so was Wally as seen right now when she could go fix it, but instead dwells on it. Maybe she could convince Wally to do it?

All this was interrupted though when she heard a shifting behind her.

"Artemis," said a soft voice as she turned around only to come face to face with a tall, muscular, man with crystal, blue eyes and was once the little brother she never had.

"Dick, can't you ever learn to use the front door?" she asked a little bitterly knowing that he would always enjoy the fact that he could surprise her, even though she was getting better at detecting the bat.

Instead of answering the question though he asked one of his own.

"Is Wally here?" he said in the same soft voice that he used with her name. Something was off with him, but she just didn't know what...yet.

"No, but he should be here in a few minutes. Will you be staying for dinner?" she asked always the kind hostess. It was always a common occurrence for Dick to randomly show up in their kitchen and instead of two places at the table, as usual, she would make room for three. I guess being a best friend gives you these special privileges.

"I- I don't know," Dick said with a sad and lost expression on his face. This caused Artemis to look a bit closer, but before she had the chance he hid his face in shadow. Deciding that it was best not to push right now and just to wait for Wally she invited him into the living room.

"Well, you can go hang out on the couch for a bit until he gets here unless you'd rather watch me cook," she said gesturing to the cream colored cushions.

Without giving an answer Dick took a seat on the cushions. With back straight and eyes forward he sat, unwavering, like his whole life depended on his posture.

"We aren't in the military, you know, you can relax a bit," Artemis said conversationally, trying to get him to loosen up a bit. There came no response and when she looked back at the young man she noticed his head was now in his hands as if there was a great burden on his shoulders, a new Atlas. "Do you want to talk about it?" she prodded. When she once again got no response she gave up on trying to make Dick talk and concentrated on the food she was cooking. A hungry Wally was never a happy Wally and something was telling her, he was going to need some happy.

The house sat in silence the only noises were of breathing, the light bubbling of the boiling water, and the fridge making ice every so often. It was like no one was home and it only caused the huge elephant in the room, named Dick, to scream that much louder. It was driving Artemis insane! Let's just say she was just a bit curious about what was up with her foster brother.

She was about to start asking questions again when she felt a breeze hit her neck, causing the little hairs to stand on end.

It was about time he showed up.

"Hey, babe, whatcha making? It smells good," Wally said as he placed his hands on her waist and kissed the top of her head.

"Just the usual, but we have a guest," she said gesturing with her head to where Dick still sat with head in hands.

"Oh," Wally said looking at his friend. If it was anyone else he would have thought they had a headache or something, but this was Dick they were talking about, and if he showed weakness something was defiantly wrong. Now he just had to figure out the right strategy to approach the situation. "Hey, buddy, what's up?" he called as he made his way into the living room.

He didn't have to go that far though before Dick stood up and met him halfway.

"Wally," he said softly with words hanging off his tongue, waiting to tell a secret.

It was then that Wally noticed there were tear tracks running down his face. There was DEFINITLY something wrong.

"Dick, come on what is it," Wally prodded rubbing his arm.

"Jason-" he started as he seemed to choke on the very air he breathed, "Jason, he-he's d-d-dead," he managed to stutter out before he gripped Wally into a bone crushing hug and sobbed like the day his parents died.

One could have heard a pin drop in the room, once Dick uttered those words. It wasn't possible the snarky, little teen that they had grown to love, couldn't be dead. It wasn't possible. He was a bat. A freaking bat. They were practically as invincible as Superman.

Dick was playing a joke on him, he just had to be. Robin couldn't be dead, it just never happened. It wasn't supposed to happen. But then how could Wally explain the sobbing person on his shoulder. It-it couldn't be true, but he knew, deep down in his heart, that this wasn't a joke. This wasn't some prank that would end up with Jason popping up in the window saying "You just got punk'd," this was real.

"Dick, oh my God. What? How?" Wally sputtered for words. He looked to Artemis for help only to see eyes wide, spoon dropped on the ground in shock, face blank. She couldn't have been prepared for this either. She had met the new bat on several occasions and he reminded her of herself at that age. Trying to run away from a destiny and past that she never wanted. Trying to change. To be a better person. But now that person was dead.

She had known something was wrong with Dick, but she never suspected it would be this bad, never in a thousand years, and yet, here they were.

"Joker he-he captured him. B-beat him with a crowbar and then e-explosion," Dick managed to stutter out between sobs and breaths, "N-nothing left."

Wally had no idea what to say so instead he grabbed his friend and sat him down on the couch and just held him, like a good friend. Artemis soon joined them a few minutes later and the three of them stayed there until the sobs stopped and his breathing returned to normal.

"Thanks guys," he said after a few minutes of silence, "I really needed that."

"There's no need to thank us, it's what we're here for," Wally said giving him an extra squeeze. Dick ignored that and continued on.

"I really needed that. I thought Bruce would be there but- but he just isn't himself and I can't stand to look at him. Every time I do all I can see is HIM right next to him jumping into the batjet and laughing at the idea that I had to stay home while he got to go on an international mission. We only had a brief goodbye because he was supposed to only come back in two days. Why didn't I say more?" Dick ranted on to himself. Neither Artemis nor Wally really knew what he was going through so they just let him talk and hoped that it would help.

"I know, buddy, but there's nothing you can do now. He's gone, but just think about how you changed his life," Wally tried to say optimistically.

"Like how I changed his life to become a superhero, which ended up killing him," Wally tried to protest, but there was no stopping him, "I should have stopped Bruce from taking on a new protégé. I had a bad feeling from the beginning, but I just went along with it thinking my instincts were off, but it was all a lie. And because of it, he died." Dick hung his head and leaned into Wally slowly drifted off to sleep.

Who would have thought that today would be the day that the second Robins life would end, leaving distraught bats and friends behind. Apparently in this case Jason didn't get traught. He got dead.


End file.
